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Nearly 90 People Show Up For Vigil Against Violence

Port Elgin | by
Craig Power

It was to remember the 14 women who lost their lives to a gunman in Montreal in 1989.

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Roughly 85 to 90 people braved the bitter cold Wednesday (Dec.6th) at Coulter Parkette in downtown Port Elgin, for a vigil to remember the 14 women who lost their lives to a lone gunman at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique Universite du Montreal in 1989.

The names of all 14 victims read aloud, each life remembered, each life senselessly taken all those years ago.

It was also a call to action to help put an end to violence against women.

"Women need to be able to empower themselves because we're going to be crucial in the healing that takes place within the families and within all of society," says Lori Kewaquom, Wellness Coordinator for Saugeen First Nation. "We have to make the change."

Pat Sanagan, spokesperson with the Southport Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women and organizer of the event, says days like to day are extremely important in not only educating, but moving forward.

"You know, we may actually be at a place where women are going to start to feel safer and that's the whole point of something like this," says Sanagan.

She says opening up the dialogue and changing attitudes is what has to happen in order to make the changes necessary moving forward.